Reading season arrives for gardeners

Published 4:54 pm, Friday, March 8, 2013

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G. Michael Shoup examines personality traits of roses.

G. Michael Shoup examines personality traits of roses.

Reading season arrives for gardeners

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As spring blossoms, bookshelves are blooming with fresh options for gardeners. Fast readers can wander through some of the latest inspirational and informational garden books before they're up to their elbows in chores.

Gardeners still mourning last summer's closing of the Antique Rose Emporium here will feel a little nostalgic when picking up nursery founder G. Michael Shoup's
“Empress of the Garden” (Texas A&M University Press, $39). The sweet fragrance of Souvenir de la Malmaison practically wafts from the cover of the oversized volume.

Shoup, who has dedicated the past three decades to the renaissance of old rose varieties, describes his cover girl as refined, glamorous and generous. Her climbing cousin is labeled indulgent, feminine and congenial.

With this book, which is appropriately heavy on photos, the author's goal was to share the romance of old roses and reveal the personalities of many varieties and explain how their character traits influence their place in the landscape.

All that, and we get little glimpses of Shoup's former nursery here and the one he still operates in Independence, near Brenham.

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Before firing up the mower, leaf through
“Lawn Gone! (Ten Speed Press, $19.99) to get ideas for reducing or eliminating large expanses of grass. The author, Pam Penick, is an Austin landscape designer, writer and blogger (www.penick.net/digging), and many of the plants and designs are appropriate to South Texas and Hill Country landscapes.

Beyond design ideas, the book includes sections of practical advice about how to kiss your grass goodbye and prepare new beds. It also delves into dealing with neighbors and homeowner associations that might have a different view of what makes a pretty landscape.

Don't let the colorful, graphic format and funky font fool you. There's solid information amid all the whimsy. Thomsen advocates “landstalking” to find looks you like, and she gives practical advice for everything from when to visit a nursery and how to get good help there, to how to compost and what tools to choose.